What barrel length for a 243 gasser?

[MPNCC]

I'm in the middle of a 243 gasser build and I'm hung up on barrel length. I will be using it for predator hunting and long range steel both. I'm usually a long barrel guy and 243 is a longer barrel cartridge in most opinions I've seen but I would appreciate some input from anyone with experience.
Thanks in advance

 

[snox801]

I think you are already in the know. .243 does like the longer barrel. Some manufacturers use 22" but to me that means very little as they also sell 22-24" .257 Roy. When you short barrel them they don't perform the way they. Should. If it where me I would use a min 22" leaning to 24"-26" if length doesn't bother you for you hunting situation.
If the length is a problem maybe look at the 6.5 creed. It doesn't lose much with a short tube. It very close to the .243 in balistics also. Just a thought.

 

[MPNCC]

Thanks for the advice. I've been leaning toward 24" but didn't know if there was something I wasn't aware of with the limited info that I can find for my situation. I have a creedmoor and love it but the one thing I can get from 243 that I can't from creedmoor is the fast and flat lighter bullets that I've become a custom to when coyote hunting.

 

[PackersFanboy]

transitioning towards shorter barrels in the 308 family size ar10. Think that the benefits are minimal going longer unless straight competitive gun. Case capacity 308 doesn't really benefit from longer burning powders make use 24-26 barrels. Medium to fast burning powders almost do complete burn in a 18" barrel 2-5% velocity difference vs 26".

 

[snox801]

That's a 308. Not a 243. When you start necking down stuff like that it takes a longer barrel to get full fps out of them. Short barrel just cuts the nuts off a .243 and you loose all the good stuff.
As for light bullets I agree some folks just don't know abou the 6.5 that's why I mentioned it. Some day I will build a nice .243 for exactly what you are doing. Long barrel 24" to 26"

 

[MPNCC]

I agree with you on that and I love the super versitile cartridges. I have a few. They are mostly barrel burners but I've come to the realization that it's what I like and rebarreling every thousand or so is not such a big deal.
I originally was just going to run a 26" for it but started the thread to see if there was any hard evidence that was controversial to what I've been told about 243 using every inch of a 26" barrel to burn slower powders. Since higher gr bullets and slower burning powder go hand in hand. I read somewhere the other day that said 24" 243 is just long enough to keep the fps drop to a minimum while knocking off a little to make it more huntable.

All just an opinion don't kill me for it
Ha

 

[snox801]

I think your right on. Could live with a 24 but 26 would be ideal. As long as your setup well the longer barrel won't matter. I prefer longer tubes unless it's a gun I plan on carring all day. 26" is prob the magic number on a .243 cause I believe that's what on the ruger percision and all the rest are shorter.

 

[Hornhunter32]

I push a 70 gr SMK 3350 fps out of a 20" 243 AR. It's hell on coyotes!

 

[MPNCC]

Thanks for your help. The rpr is a 26" in 243. I have one but out of the box new it fired 5 rounds and then went to extremely light primer strikes. Of course ruger is taking care of it they have great customer service but that kind of thing sours me so moving forward

 

[mtwarych]

I believe you should take the length of the gas system into consideration before you mount a 26 inch barrel on a gasser.

The last thing you need is the bolt starting to unlock before the barrel is clear of slug and high pressure gas.

I have a DPMS GII hunter that was over gassed and that rifle just destroyed brass before I put an adjustable gas block on it.(20 inch barrel)

Even though it was a middle load 308, before the gas block, The rifle was uncomfortable to shoot and bucked around like a carp out of water.

I am not sure where one would find the burn rate information compared to gas system length, but it has got to be out there somewhere.

I am also not sure if one can get a custom length gas system for a longer barrel.

Good luck. I would like to know what you come up with.

 

[MPNCC]

I have a 6.5 creedmoor upper with a 26" kreiger with rifle length gas and of course an adjustable gas block. Once I got the gas system tuned and running the JP enhanced bolt and carrier I have had relatively no problem with gas issues. It's the second I've built that way without issue. I built both prior to hard evidence that the creedmoor didn't need a full length barrel and performed quite well in shorties. All of that is one of the reasons for this post.
Thanks

 

[budlight]

transitioning towards shorter barrels in the 308 family size ar10. Think that the benefits are minimal going longer unless straight competitive gun. Case capacity 308 doesn't really benefit from longer burning powders make use 24-26 barrels. Medium to fast burning powders almost do complete burn in a 18" barrel 2-5% velocity difference vs 26".

Really? I own two 243 wins, 9 1/8th twist. One is 22 inch and the other 26. The 26 chronos way over 100 fps faster. So I rarely even shoot the 22 inch and i have considered rebarreling to 27 or 28 inches to make it useful

I tested over 10 powders with 100 gr spbt. the powders that came out on top were Superformance, R-25, and now the new R-26. Are those slow enough for you? For Varminting I use 80 gr spbt smoking out the barrel at over 3500 fps and 87 gr V-max in front of H100V. the 87 are at 3400 fps

I've never even attempted less than 80 gr .243 because of the lower BC

 

[MPNCC]

I figured to give the 75gr vmax a try and up from there. Figured I'd try superformance, rl17 and Varget with a few different bullets. I have some 80gr spbt Sierras that are moly coated I figured to try as well. For the slower burning powders with some 105-115gr bullets i figured to try rl26, retumbo and h1000 and see what I get. Thanks for the advice